Oh, Artorias? I?m about 15 tries in, and our relationship is? complicated, to say the least. Imminent bitching:
Fox12 said:
I will give you this piece of advice. Artorias, and to a much greater extent the final boss of the DLC, will both use massive combos that will absolutely devestate your stamina. I was lucky, since I'd gotten used to dodging attacks instead of blocking them, but if you're used to using a shield then it must be a nightmare. Basically, unless you're Havel, and you've poured a lot of points into stamina, then blocking some of these combos simply isn't viable. The final bosses biggest combo will quickly hit you five times. The trick, in that situation, is to recognize the combo before he uses it, and avoid the attack altogether. Otherwise he'll stun lock you to death, even with a shield.
CaitSeith said:
Tip: You can interrupt his buff/AoE. Run towards him when he starts to buff and attack him. It will make his blows way easier to withstand when you fail to block or evade. His most treacherous move it's the 3 consecutive somersaults. He is a tricky ************, but as most of the rest of Dark Souls, it all comes to learn his moves and the best way to not get hit.
vallorn said:
I didn't want to spoil Artorias because that opening cinematic is awesome when you don't expect it. He's a flippy anime fight but take a greatshield with loads of stability and you can pretty much tank your way through almost everything without taking a hit. I'd suggest using your Uchi because it's faster so you can get in a hit in and then bring your shield back up.
Oh and his Super Saiyan Rose power up thing? You can attack him during it and if you do enough damage he doesn't get his power up and he also staggers which can give you even more damage.
I decided I can't tank him. I'm using the Greatshield of Artorias (yeah, that's right; I killed your dog, *****; used her soul for this badass shield and made a bra and panty set for your mom out of her pelt,) and it does a great job of keeping me safe initially, but the problem is that Artorias is absolutely relentless and his rapid and constant attacks eat through my Stamina like a power washer through rice paper if I just stand there and try to take it like a champ. So I decided (like I've got a choice) to use this encounter to prove I can actually "git gud," and have started working on my dodge rolls.
I've managed to figure out the timing on the triple flippy thing he does, and that confidence really opened up some opportunities I didn't see before, but again, the problem is he has an answer for everything I throw at him. The attack I have the hardest time dodging is the "pointy powerslide" where he goes all Sunset Overdrive on me and slides across the room with his dick pointed at me and somehow manages to hit me twice with a single thrust (denoted by the two, distinct and devastating hits to my Stamina bar
on the off chance I do manage to dodge it, I get a hit in on his back and he BACKHANDS me in return; didn't know he could do that, y'know, counter-attack as a basic part of your move set, but he can and does.
I first tried my +5 BK Sword as a wiki suggested for its wide sweeping arc, but 1.)it's too goddamn slow and short; if I try to block his attacks, he pushes me out of counterattack range, so by the time I drop my shield and swing my sword, I've had two birthdays and he's already hit me with his own counter-counterattack. 2.)If I dodge roll, I've moved myself out of counterattack range, so by the time I close the gap, and swing my sword, well, I've had two birthdays and so on and so forth... I next tried my +5 BK Halberd and had marginally better success; its reach is undeniable as even when he pushes me out of nominal range, I can still hit him without moving, but his immediate backhand counterattacks turn those moments into Three Stooges-esque slap fights which he inevitably wins, being Moe to my Curly and such. I have tried my +15 Uchigatana, but it suffers again from a lack of length and hits for so much less than my BK weapons; plus, I don't think Bleed is a weakness of his and even if it were, I never get enough successive hits in to build it on him.
I have read that he can be staggered out of his buffing animation, but I can't do it. I don't know what his poise is, but I'd guess "IT'S OVER 9,000!!!!!" The best chance I ever had was 3-4 hits with the heaviest weapon I can wield, and he didn't budge; I think he might have giggled. What's worse is that I learned his buffs STACK. He'll buff once for every fifth of his health depleted, so when I manage to do another fifth of his health worth of damage while he's already buffed, he'll do it again, and is suddenly powerful enough to one-shot me. I think the buff lasts about a minute, so I've tried running away until it wears off before doing any more damage, but one minute in that room with him running for my life and not trying to defend myself is what my psychiatrist calls a "high-stress environment;" I inevitably make a mistake and his buffed self capitalizes with a two-shot kill.
Should I NOT be locking on to him? For the life of me, not locking on sounds like insanity seeing as he moves fast enough to be in two places at once and risking a shot to the back is basically suicide, but camera issues when locked on honestly account for 60-70% of what I'm deeming my "dumb mistakes," particularly against the pointy powerslide. If I try to roll while locked on, the camera stays on him which I think is affecting the direction I'm rolling leaving me basically always right in front of him and ripe for the ramming...
TL;DR? Fuck Artorias.
